In this study, the photocatalytic degradation of two biologically treated textile finishing wastewater was investigated using powdered TiO2 and ZnO catalysts with UV-A lamp irradiation. Photodegradation and photodecolorization of the samples real textile industrial wastewater is observed directly proportional to pH and catalyst concentrations. Optimum catalyst concentration was found as 2 g l-1 in both catalysts. COD removal in TiO2 assisted system was obtained two fold higher than ZnO assisted system depending characteristics of the wastewater samples. Optimum pH values were determined to be 5 and 9 for TiO2 and ZnO assisted systems respectively. A COD removal of 45% and 23% were obtained using and ZnO catalysts respectively during 3 h irradiation. The effluents of photocatalytic treated samples using both catalysts displayed no acute toxicity at the end of 3 h irradiation time at optimum experimental conditions. Results, in conclusion, revealed that both TiO2 and ZnO catalysts were found to be very effective in color removal and provided safe and proper effluents to meet discharge limits, even reuse guideline values.

In vitro tolerance of soil borne phytopathogenic fungus i.e. Alternaria alternata in terms of growth, physiology and metal uptake capacity against different doses of copper [Cu(II)] metal was assessed. In preliminary growth experiments, nitrate, chloride and sulphate of Cu(II) were amended in seven different concentrations viz. 25, 50, 75, 80, 85, 90 and 100 ppm in nutritive agar medium along with fungus inoculum. Amongst three salts, the maximum inhibition in radial growth of the fungus was observed with increasing concentrations of copper salts in order of: CuSO4> CuNO3> CuCl2. Further trials were conducted in nutritive broth with four different concentrations (25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm) of copper sulphate to assess growth inhibition, metal accumulation, protein and catalase activity in the fungus biomass. It was found that fungus dry biomass was significantly declined by 70-99% along with net metal accumulation of 40% with increasing metal concentrations. Total protein contents and catalase activity was considerably increased up to 2-5 and 2-3 folds, respectively with increase in metal concentration from 25-100 ppm and incubation period from 48, 72 and 96 hours over control. Present study concludes that A. alternata was able to tolerate up to 90 ppm of copper, therefore it is imperative to consider fungus metal tolerance range during fungicide formulations.

ISC-Aermod view dispersion model has been used to study the ground level concentration of hydrocarbon (HC). The purpose was to predict the air quality effects from off-grid diesel power generators operated by a textile factory in Lagos, Nigeria on its host airshed. Emissions from 22 point sources in 5 sections of the factory were considered with 6 different scenarios. 4 years of hourly meteorological observations were used for the investigation of dispersion. The model output showed the highest value of maximum ground level concentration at 90 m south east of the factory. The predicted impact using the worst case scenario showed that the ambient HC of the host air shed will change by 0.01-0.05% of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment (FMENV) standard. HC emissions from factory will not significantly affect the host air shed as the maximum concentrations from the worst case scenario were still lower than the national standard. However, since emissions from other factories will also be released into the same host environment, an integrated approach factoring the contributions from other factories should be employed in host air quality management.

The effect of pre-ozonation on the formation of four aldehydes (i.e. formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal) and two ketones (i.e. pyruvic acid and glioxalic acid) at the Beheshti water treatment plant in Hamadan, Iran were studied. Water samples were taken from the treatment plant at different points of the treatment train during September-January, 2013. The variation of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal, pyruvic acid, and acid glioxalic concentration within treatment process were monitored in September and January. The results indicated that formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were the most abundant aldehyde species in the raw water. After pre-ozonation all of the aldehydes and ketones reached the maximum concentration. On the contrary, results show that the coagulation-filtration process was beneficial to the removal of aldehydes and ketones. Also, the results indicated that the level of aldehydes was increased after post chlorination. The percent increase was 52.3, 34.6, 12.1, 26.8 and 38% for formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal and glyoxalic acid, respectively, in September. Therefore, final chlorination led to increase in the formation of aldehydes in the pre-ozonated water. Ketones were not detected in the post-chlorinated water. Moreover, there was no correlation between total organic carbon (TOC) and total aldehyde and total ketone in water samples.

The aim of this search was to identify the 101 top cited articles in the field of oil spill remediation. A search was conducted based on a database of the Web of Science included the journal citation reports from 1980 to 2013. The number of citations of the first 101 top cited articles is from 24 to 816. The decades with most top-cited articles published were 2000-2009 (47 articles) and 1990-1999 (37 articles). The most common research area of study was environmental science ecology. All the articles were published in 54 different journals in this category. Journals with the highest number of cited articles were Applied and Environmental Microbiology (10 articles), Environmental Science and Technology (6 articles), Organic Geochemistry (6 articles), Chemosphere (5 articles). Among the top cited articles the mostly named author were Sakkata Y, and Uddin MA with 6 of articles, followed by Fedorak PM with 5. Out of 101 top cited articles, 14, 13 and 12 articles originated from Canada, USA and France, respectively. Okayama and Alberta Universities were the most common productive institutions. Based on our knowledge, this is the first report of the 101 top cited articles in this category.

The present study investigates the ability of formaldehyde treated Simarouba glauca seed shell powder for removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions. Batch adsorption studies were carried out under various experimental conditions such as agitation time, dye concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), XRD, BET and CHNS analysis. The adsorption data were analysed using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin - Radushkevich isotherms. Equilibrium data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm with maximum adsorption capacity of 111.1 mg g -1. Adsorption kinetic data were verified using pseudo first order, pseudo second order and Intraparticle diffusion model. The kinetic data were found to fit well with pseudo second order model.

The coagulation potential of alginate extracted from marine brown algae, Sargassum sp. for the removal of Direct Blue 2 dye from aqueous solution was studied. Extracted alginate was characterised by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques. Batch coagulation tests were carried out by using standard Jar test apparatus to study the influence of initial Ph

(4 – 10), coagulant (alginate) dosage (10 – 60 mg l-1), initial concentration of dye (100 – 500 mg l-1) and calcium dosage (1 – 6 g l-1) on removal of dye. The maximum dye removal was observed as 86.1 % at initial dye concentration of 200 mg l-1, 6 g l-1of calcium dose, 40 mg l-1of alginate dose and pH 4. The Sludge Volume Index (SVI) was examined at the maximum dye removal condition and compared with Alum. The kinetic study reveals that the coagulation process for the removal of Direct Blue 2 dye follows second order kinetic model. The obtained results were compared with the literature available on the application of various seaweeds for wastewater treatment methods and their efficiency. Based on the investigation, it is evident that the alginate extracted from Sargassum sp. can be used as an effective novel coagulant for the removal of Direct Blue 2 dye from aqueous solution.

Current study was carried out to investigate the heavy metals removal from landfill leachate and urban wastewater by powdered activated carbon and powdered zeolite augmented SBR technique. The research was carried out in six 2000 mL breakers (working size was 1200 ml). The reactors were parted into 2 groups covering 3 for activated carbon augmented SBRs (PAC-SBR), and 3 for powdered zeolite augmented SBRs (PZE-SBR). The response surface methodology (RSM) and the central composite design (CCD) were employed to explain the most advantageous settings of the independent variables (aeration rate
(l min-1), reaction time (h), and leachate-to-wastewater mixing ration (%; v/v)) and their resopnses (dependent variables including Fe, Mn, Ni and Cd). The results indicated that the PZE-SBR showed higher performance in removal efficiencies while compared to PAC-SBR. At the optimum conditions of contact time (13.83 h), aeration rate (2.81 l min-1) and leachate to domestic wastewater proportion (20.00%) for the PZE-SBR, the removal efficiencies for Fe, Mn, Ni, and Cd were 65.65%, 61.56, 63.41%, and 60.44%, respectively.

In this paper, one partial nitritation system with biological selector (PNBS) was first evaluated in treating high-strength ammonia containing wastewater. Nitrite production rate (NPR) of 8.25 kg N m-3 d-1 was achieved with influent NH4-N concentration 2000 mg l-1 and HRT 3.2 h, which is, to our knowledge, the highest NPR to be treated successfully by an nitritation reactor. A genetic analysis of the organisms in the PNBS revealed an abundance of Nitrosomonas sp. ENI-11, Uncultured bacterium clone: AnDHS-3, Nitrosomonas sp. ENI-11 and Nitrosomonas eutropha enriched in the PNBS reactor.

The present study associates groundwater nitrate pollution with agricultural activity in the Upper-Cheliff wich is known for intensive farming practices. The indicatory kriging method is used in order to elaborate a map of the spatial probability distribution of nitrate concentration that exceeds a threshold value of 50ppm during high watering period for the year 2012. The obtained results show that the areas exceeding nitrate concentrations of 50 ppm, occupy more than 80% of the Upper-Cheliff aquifer area. It appears, from this map, the most affected areas are those for which the level of intensification of the N-fertilizers is the strongest (zone of garden farming, potatoes in particular) throw condensed.These results are coherent with the experimental data, which show an average nitrate concentration value of 75 ppm, significantly higher than the World Health Organization (WHO)’S standards.

In this study, the total nitrogen brought to the soils of the Upper-Cheliff is estimated at 247 kg ha-1 for this year, and compared to the results of New Computer models such as PILOTEN used to analyze alternative management practices together with soil, plant, and climate characteristics to determine the amount of nitrogen leached under the potatoes crops. The result of this model show that 60% of nitrogen input is leaching under potato crops which is relevant to the map showing the spatial evolution of nitrate. Nitrate pollution in the groundwater of the Upper-Cheliff appears to be significant and driven by the application of both inorganic fertilizer and land use.